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What are the advantages of collaborative divorce?

Privacy is one of the biggest advantages. What people don’t realize is that when they go to an attorney and file for divorce, everything becomes public. The petition is public and financial affidavits are public. When we read in the newspapers about celebrities that spend all this money on vacations, the source of the information is documents in the court proceeding. In collaborative divorce, financial affidavits are prepared, but they are not filed with the court. In fact, this entire process takes place outside of the court until the very end.

The second advantage is transparency. The couple and all the professionals involved agree that any decision will be made with the knowledge of everybody else. Third, the parties have personal control over the outcome. You don’t have a judge who has only known you from court deciding what will be the best situation for the family. Finally, the collaborative process is more expedient. The couple have total control over how quickly it goes. The process goes as quickly as the slowest participant.

Harriett Fox is a CPA and divorce mediator located in Miami, Florida. She uses her mediation skills to settle cases in various areas of commercial and civil litigation, while applying her forensic accounting abilities to complex financial analyses in cases of family, commercial, and civil litigation.